Cycling Illustrated

Specialized lululemon Leads the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series

April 16, 2013 by Sprint Finish Leave a Comment

Specialized lululemon Leads the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series

(Minneapolis – April 16, 2013) Team Specialized lululemon sits atop the team standings for the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series after the Series opener at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, thanks to an impressive second place performance by Tayler Wiles, despite being only 22 years old. The Series rules are designed to encourage participation by young riders, so her points were doubled for the team competition. Also adding to the team total was 25 year old Ally Stacher, whose points were also doubled. Specialized lululemon leads NOW and Novartis for MS by over 100 points, with TIBCO to the Top in third.

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Filed Under: Cycling Women, lululemon athletica, News Tagged With: Women’s Prestige Cycling Series

Catching up with Carmen Small (Specialized Lululemon)

March 28, 2013 by Sprint Finish Leave a Comment

At this point in the season, I have raced and trained more in the rain and cold than in the sun and dry. I knew spring in Europe could be difficult, racing in bad weather and doing the hardest one-day races of the year, but I never expected it to be this challenging. With all that said, I wouldn’t trade it for any other experience. My new team, Specialized Lululemon, brightens it up.

I left home June 4th for sunny California and a USA track camp in Los Angeles. I ate up the good weather because 10 days later I was traveling to Mallorca, Spain. Oh wait, you are thinking, an island…warm, sunny. Nope, it was cold and rainy, but that’s to be expected since it is winter there. We had a great camp with almost 30 hours of training on the bike in one week, which was by far the hardest training camp that I have ever attended. It was great getting to know my Euro teammates and bonding over those hard training days and shared silliness off the bike. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cycling Women, lululemon athletica, News Tagged With: Carmen Small, Specialized-lululemon

Merco Classic by Tayler Wiles

March 4, 2013 by Sprint Finish Leave a Comment

Merco Classic

by Tayler Wiles

Merco was the first race with my new team (Specialized-lululemon) and it was a pretty incredible start. I was really happy to see the women’s 4-day stage race return with the MID road race as stage 1. Two years ago, this was my very first race as a professional. This year, I was able to cross the finish line 1st, with teammate Evelyn Stevens taking 2nd, and it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had racing my bike.

We wanted to get Evie and I in a break, which happened on lap 2 as Alison Powers went hard up the climb to get the QOM points and caused a split. We got a break of 6 rolling with Evie, Andrea Dvorak, Alison Powers, Lauren Hall, and me. The last time up the climb, Evie attacked and got a good gap. Powers chased her and I just sat tight on her wheel. After the descent, I looked back and noticed it was just Powers and me. We’d lost the rest of the girls in the break. I sat on Powers until we were about 30 feet from Evie, and then I attacked Powers on a small kicker and bridged to Evie. Then came the fun part, as the two of us time trialed to the finish. [Read more...]

Filed Under: lululemon athletica, Merco Classic, News Tagged With: 2013 Merco Cycling Classic, Lululemon, Specialized Lululemon cycling

Specialized-lululemon announces 2013 roster

November 9, 2012 by Sprint Finish Leave a Comment

The smiling American Evelyn Stevens returns to Specialized-lululemon for the 2013 season. Stevens won the 2012 edition of La Flèche Wallonne ahead of Marianne Vos.

#WSWC

Building on Success: Specialized-lululemon announces 2013 roster

Specialized-lululemon today announced the team roster for the 2013 season. Both title sponsors will continue with the team next year, and the core of the roster will remain the same with eight riders returning. Team owner Kristy Scrymgeour has subtly altered the mix on the team with three new signings, and the U.S.-registered team will include eleven riders.

Cycling and Chess

April 23, 2012 by Sprint Finish Leave a Comment

Evelyn Steven and team Specialized-lululemon’s win at the Fleche Wallonne Femmes 2012 highlights how team strategy, and not raw power, is the most important in cycling. The American Steven took the top podium finish ahead of last year and four time Fleche winner Marianne Vos as well as other prominent fixtures of international women’s cycling.

The story of the day is not about powerful riders destroying their rivals, though they had their moments at the start of the race, but the superb strategy employed by team Specilized in sending Canadian rider Clara Hughes, who fittingly won rider of the day award, into the front after the first climb up the Mur de Huy. The time trial specialist upped the pace and destroyed what was left of the peloton, isolating Steven and Vos to battle for the win. The strategy paid off as Stevens outlasted Vos at the top of the climb for the win. [Read more...]